Tag: Trump botched COVID-19 response tanked the U.S. economy

Millions of Americans are heading into the holidays unemployed and over $5,000 behind on rent

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Economists warn many unemployed families won’t be able to pay rent and utilities without more stimulus aid from Congress

Millions of Americans who lost their jobs during the pandemic have fallen thousands of dollars behind on rent and utility bills, a warning sign that people are running out of money for basic needs.

Nearly 12 million renters will owe an average of $5,850 in back rent and utilities by January, Moody’s Analytics warns. Last month, 9 million renters said they were behind on rent, according to a Census Bureau survey.

Economists say the data underscores the deepening financial disaster for many families as the pandemic continues to shut off work opportunities, lending new urgency to negotiations over a second round of stimulus that could reinstate federal unemployment insurance and rental assistance, among other forms of aid. Continue reading.

Jobs report shows weakening trend heading into holidays, increasing the case for stimulus

Job growth slowed significantly in November and looks set to decline even more, as the spreading pandemic hits all sorts of economic activity and results in more shutdowns.

The creation of just 245,000 payrolls, about 200,000 below forecast, signals a decline in the labor market that economists say could result in a negative number for December. The report also adds to the case for fiscal stimulus to bridge the economy to a time next year, when vaccine distribution is expected to allow a return to a more normal environment, economists said.

“This is pretty poor overall. It’s really hard to find anything good to say about it, to be honest. Payroll growth came in weaker than expected, significantly weaker than any time since the recovery began,” said Tom Simons, money market economist at Jefferies. “Everything was pointing to job growth slowing and of course, it’s related to the surge in Covid. The hiring in retail and hospitality was very weak here and that’s signs of Covid and social distancing rules keeping the recovery from expanding … On the plus side, average hourly wages are up 0.3%.” Continue reading.

McConnell, Schumer spar as pressure grows for coronavirus deal

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) sparred over coronavirus relief on Thursday as pressure grows for leadership to cut a deal.  

McConnell, speaking from the Senate floor, said he believed a deal on coronavirus relief was “within reach,” but didn’t embrace a bipartisan proposal gaining steam within his own caucus.  

McConnell argued Congress should pass a coronavirus relief bill that covers areas on which both sides agree, including more small business aid through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and extending soon-to-expire programs created through the March CARES Act.  Continue reading.

More than half of emergency small-business funds went to larger businesses, new data shows

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The Trump administration has emphasized PPP loans to small firms, but most of the $522 billion went to a tiny slice of borrowers

More than half of the money from the Treasury Department’s coronavirus emergency fund for small businesses went to just 5 percent of the recipients, according to data on more than 5 million loans that was released by the government Tuesday evening in response to a Freedom of Information Act request and lawsuit.

According to data on the government’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), about 600 mostly larger companies, including dozens of national chains, received the maximum amount allowed under the program of $10 million.

Officials from the Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration (SBA) have argued the program primarily benefited smaller businesses because a vast majority of the loans ― more than 87 percent ― were for less than $150,000, as of August. But the new data shows more than half of the $522 billion in the same time frame went to bigger businesses, and only 28 percent of the money was distributed in amounts less than $150,000. Continue reading.

Monumental economic challenges await Biden’s Treasury secretary

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The next Treasury secretary will join the Biden administration amid an almost yearlong economic downturn and with limited fiscal tools at their disposal to cobble together a recovery plan.

Janet Yellen, President-elect Joe Biden’s expected pick, would be one of the most experienced economists to lead the Treasury Department, having served as both Federal Reserve chair and head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

But the immediate challenges will be monumental. Continue reading.

Biden Team, Pushing Quick Stimulus Deal, Prepares for Renewed Recession

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Economists warn that lawmakers must pass aid now, as a renewed coronavirus surge chills consumer spending and business activity.

WASHINGTON — Advisers to President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. are planning for the increasing likelihood that the United States economy is headed for a “double-dip” recession early next year. They are pushing for Democratic leaders in Congress to reach a quick stimulus deal with Senate Republicans, even if it falls short of the larger package Democrats have been seeking, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Until now, Mr. Biden, Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, have insisted that Republicans agree to a spending bill of $2 trillion or more, while Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, wants a much smaller package. The resulting impasse has threatened to delay additional economic aid until after Mr. Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

Many of the president-elect’s advisers have become convinced that deteriorating economic conditions from the renewed surge in Covid-19 infections and the looming threat of millions of Americans losing jobless benefits in December amid a wave of evictions and foreclosures require more urgent action before year’s end. That could mean moving at least part of the way toward Mr. McConnell’s offer of a $500 billion package. Continue reading.

President is wild card as shutdown fears grow

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Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are wondering if they can trust President Trump to sign legislation to keep the government funded and avoid a shutdown before the end of the year.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers say a government shutdown is not off the table and see Trump, who has refused to concede the election, as the main wild card.

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who met with Senate Republicans on Wednesday, said the president wants to keep the government funded. But he’s not ruling out the possibility of a year-end shutdown. Continue reading.

Mitch McConnell is standing in the way of desperately needed support for the American economy

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The next coronavirus stimulus bill needs to be at least four times larger than Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) $500 billion proposal, economists told Salon.

Congress remains deadlocked on a bill after McConnell repeatedly rejected the $3.4 trillion HEROES Act passed by the House back in May, and the $2.2 trillion compromise offer House Democrats approved last month.

McConnell said this week that a bill “dramatically larger” than his $500 billion proposal is “not a place I think we’re willing to go.” Yet economists say the country needs at least $2 trillion to help the economy recover back to where it was before the pandemic, just as the US enters the worst wave of the coronavirus pandemic yet. Continue reading.

How Trump’s erratic behavior and failure on coronavirus doomed his reelection

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The same impulses that helped lift the president to
victory in 2016 contributed to his undoing four years later.

Air Force One was descending into Detroit when President Trump posed a question that would come to define his entire approach to the deadly coronavirus pandemic: “Do you think I should wear a mask?” he asked the aides and advisers gathered in the plane’s front cabin.

Trump was headed to visit a Ford Motor plant in Ypsilanti, Mich., which by May was already a coronavirus hot zone, with more than 5,000 dead,thousands more sickened — and cases still spiking — in the critical Midwest battleground state.

But the responses were nearly unanimous, with senior White House officials arguing that wearing a mask was unnecessary and would send a bad signal to the public about the magnitude of the crisis. Continue reading.

Unemployment plunges as the pandemic continues

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Here’s the good news for workers: The unemployment rate fell by a full percentage point to 6.9% last month — in the face of rising coronavirus cases, continued pressure on businesses, and no economic relief in sight from the government.

The bad news: That rapid snapback in employment after initial economic lockdowns eased is over. Job growth has slowed every month since June.

Between the lines: The labor market is still 10 million jobs short of where it was before Covid-19 wrecked the economy. Continue reading.